Halo The Last Stand
by Blazingshadow87
Summary: After putting a stop to installation 05 spartan team alpha returns to find Earth under covenant control, chief and his team must pull together all they can as they fight against the evergrowing threat of the flood and the prophet of truth who is determined to fire the Halo rings, humans and the banished Elites will have to work together to end the war once and for all


**Hello my fellow Spartans guess who's back after a whole year with the next chapter in the Halo saga I honestly can't wait for cause this was my favorite part of the Halo franchise and honestly still is so without a further ado I give you halo: the last stand**

 **let's start the story Spartans**

* * *

It is a night sky: several bright pinpoints of white light, stars, hang in the center. It's a tranquil forest, with lush forestry and a winding river."They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose whichever Spartan I wanted."

"You know me. I did my research. Watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be." something comes into view entering the atmosphere, trailing flames splitting the night sky. Although it is not recognizable at this time, it is the Prophet of Truth's Dreadnought. "Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader."

The fireball comes nearer, at an oblique angle."But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw, but for me."A second, lesser fireball breaks off from the main one four more following. It moves at an oblique angle to the first,. It moves closer while the first vanishes behind a spray of trees."Can you guess?"The object moves even nearer, and its trajectory begins to curve"Luck."The fireball roars past and smashes into the ground with an earth-shattering impact. For a moment, we can see that the area is a jungle, quiet and peaceful, and now, full of light and sound. Cortana's last words are tinged with humor."Was I wrong?"

* * *

Later in the same forest, but now it's early morning, with the sun streaming through the trees onto the smoking ruin where the object hit the ground. In the foreground, an armored gauntlet is visible. In the background, several Marines move around; 1st Squad. The one in the back wears a Sergeant's cap. The Marines of 1st Squad anxiously observe an object. A dread silence permeates the jungle.

"Damn"

"How far did he fall"

Sergeant Johnson pushes in front and takes a long puff on his cigar "two kilometers easy" a marine speaks behind him "say sharp" Jonson barks

The Marines move closer to the object while one aims his gun to the left then the right looking for any sign of the enemy. For the first time, we can see that the object is John-117. He lies at one end of his own personal crater, the result of falling about two kilometers. Despite the motionlessness of the man inside, the armor is neither scratched nor singed, apart from a large scrape across the upper right of the chest plate. John lies in an odd position, like a dropped statue; the figure is still; hands raised awkwardly. The Spartan is still and silent. The Marines move closer to John, taking up combat positions. One sits down beside him and takes out a small computer."Corpsman

"His armor locked up," the navy corpsman said in a doubtful tone "unlike the spartan threes his armor isn't designed for high altitude falls"

He taps something in on the computer. With a hiss, John's outstretched arms collapse onto his chest. The Marine checks for vital signs. No readings."I don't know, Sergeant Major."

Johnson kneels by the side of his fallen friend and places a hand on his chest, feeling for breath, or any sign that the man is alive. He inadvertently breathes smoke into John's face. After a few seconds, he sighs sadly, reaches behind John's head and pulls Cortana's empty chip out of his helmet."Radio for VTOL, heavy lift gear. We're not leaving him here."

An armored hand reaches up and grabs his wrist. It is Johns "yeah your not" he mutters as he struggles to get to his feet

"Crazy fool!" Johnson shouts "why do you always jump, one of these days you gonna land on something as stubborn as you are, and I don't do bits and pieces"

John ignores this and takes back Cortana's chip and stares at for a while he hear Cortana final words to him in his head 'don't make a girl a promise, when you no you can't keep it"

"where is the chief," Johnson asked pulling John out of his thoughts "where is Cortana"

"She stayed behind," John told him coldly "where Six and the others," he asked noticing he was the only Spartan around though he'd never told them this he'd like having their company it felt warming

"I don't know," Johnson told him "you and your team were scattered in the jungle when you crashed from orbit"

John looks around, taking in his surroundings. Somewhere near him is a familiar sight... the heat-wave effect of a Covenant Active camouflage. Johnson gives it a nod. An Elite decloaks, revealing itself to be the Arbiter, Thel 'Vadam. John-117 moves with fluid grace, brushing aside Johnson and another Marine next to 'Vadam, drawing Johnson's pistol from its holster.

"Chief, wait!" John jams the pistol between 'Vadam's mandibles. "the arbiter with us" Johnson tells him as the two stare at each other slowly chief backed away as arbiter gained some foothold

"was it so easy" the arbiter spoke before walking away from John "we must leave the brutes to have our scent"

"Then they must love the smell of badass," Johnson shouted as he grabbed an assault rifle for John who snatched it as if he was annoyed by the arbiter

The group begins to move out as Johnson starts to signal the radio "bravo squad we found the chief any word on the other Spartans"

the signal beamed as Michael popped in on the radio "we have visual on Six but I think the Brutes beat us too" he answers "As for Rex, Kat, and Emile I have no idea still searching"

"Roger that" Johnson turned to his marines "1st squad your my scouts, move quick and quiet" he turned and pointed to the arbiter "arbiter watch chiefs back, we're heading to Six"

As the group starts to move out there hear a brute howl in the distance followed by sounds of distance phantom ships

"that was close"

"too close" Johnson finishes as he looks around "bravo any beat on Six"

"Yeah covenant is a little close" Michael sounded over the comms "don't think we'll beat em there"

"Alright we'll split up here" Johnson said "chief, you and arbiter take 2nd squad and plow through the covenant and reach Six before they do, me and my troop will try to find Rex and the others"Johnson and his men then started to climb a cliff as the chief and arbiter ran for the river

As the Spartan and Elite made their way to the river they noticed that Brutes had made a blockade in front of them"according to this trajectory reader Six is over this river" a marine spoke up "but the covenant is blocking this area"

"then we storm through," Arbiter told him as he turned to chief "are you combat ready"

"Yeah" chief muttered he had to admit that he wasn't all for working with the Elites, but he would do what he'd have too

the arbiter then vanished as Chief went over to where the brutes were standing he heard them shouting at the grunts telling them to move out chief took this as a signal and tossed a grenade overhead

This made the grunts scatter as the brutes began to pull out their weapons the marines charged as the Brutes open fire

Arbiter then appeared out as nowhere and gunned down most of the grunts "traitor" a brute shouted before charging arbiter

"The Prophets are liars, but you are fools to do their bidding!" arbiter retreats before activating his energy sword and slicing the brute in half

after the battle was finished A couple of Phantoms draw near, each deploying a squad of Grunts and Brutes, blocking the advance of the Master Chief and his allies. Eventually, they are cleared, and the Marines form up at a winking flare at an underground cave.

"Those Brutes are tough." female marine states as they make their way through the cave

"Grunts ain't no slouches either." a marine tells her as he scraps off some plasma "Maybe the Brutes put something in their tanks."

"The Grunts' new-found courage is but fear. When we are victorious, all who serve the Prophets will be punished."

After advancing through the caves, a massive forested expanse is found Sleeping Grunts litter the first half while a few Brutes, Jackals, and other Grunts patrol the far hills.

"Sleepers! Take 'em out, nice and quiet" marine whispers Jackals, on the ridge! Stay low; looks like they've got Carbines."

"stay here" the arbiter states as he vanishes again chief watches as the arbiter slices his way through most of the camp killing the brutes in one blow leaving the grunts to scatter "run, and you may live yet!" he shouts

Chief pushes past him noticing the scolding marks off a crater "Six!" he shouts as he runs up to where the spartan laid a corpsman walking right behind him "will he be alright"

"I don't know sir" he presses a few buttons on the pad and Six armor soo decompresses his body starts to move as his head looks up "Chief"

"eyes up buttercup" chief tell him jokingly as he reaches his hand out which the spartan accepts

as Six stands up finding his balance he gives a look to the chief " were never doing that again" he states as he taps the side of his helmet

the chief pulled him over "hey, look an Elite is working with us know," chief tells him "so don't try to kill him"

"Really," Six asked as he checked over his energy sword "well alright if that's what command wants"

the chief nodded as his radio went off "this Sam, we've found Emile and Kat, there still coming around though" he says over the radio "any word on the others"

"This is chief we've found Six" he stated over the comms "still no word on Rex," he said as he looked over at Six who was still getting a grip

"No word from the kid," he asked "I hope he made to the ground"

"Well only one way to find out," chief told him "let's move through the caves" the Spartans then start to move towards the caves when they stumble across a brute attacking a marine sergeant

"Tell me its location!" the brute ask choking him chief gets a closer look and realize it's Sargeant Reynolds

"Kiss... my... ass."

the Brute Captain breaks his spine and throws him down, noticing the Master Chief and 'Vadam. before he reacts Michael appears and stabs him in the neck causing him fall over Michael then jumps down from the log, grabbing a nearby Assault Rifle and joining the Master Chief and 'Vadam in their fight.

"Brute Chieftain. Phantom. Pinned us down... killed my men." he stutters as he looks around

"damn it" Six states "is it really this bad"

"Yeah," chief answers as they make it to the cave he slows down when he sees Cortana on his visor "Could you sacrifice me to complete your mission? Could you watch me die?" she asks him

"chief you alright," Six asks as he stops "your vitals just pinged...um female"

Chief stops and looks up to him "what"

"nothing" SIx brushes him off looking forward holding a plasma rifle in his hand he noticed the arbiter ahead of them cloaked he gave off the I can see you look and he de-cloaked as the moved forward

As they moved through the cave the radio started to go off "repeat this is spartan A813 is anyone out there please respond" a female voice came over the comms

"Sarah" Six asked he recognized the A.I as the one Rex had along with Miranda "where are you, is Rex alive"

"Six, then gd we found you," Sarah said overjoyed "Yeah Rex is fine, he's still coming too," she tells the Spartan "where stuck in what appears to be an old water mill"

"Alright," Six tells her "luckily that's not far from the Evac, I'll send you the coordinates and we'll meet you there"

"affirmative" Sarah tells Six before going radio silent

"I hope they make it out okay," chief tells him

"they'll be fine," Six told him "we just need to focus on getting out of here"

"easier said than done," Michael told him as they pushed forward

2nd Squad leaves the caves; the river is around the next bend. Three Marine corpses are scattered on the ground, with BR55 Heavy Barrel Service Rifle ammunition and Fragmentation Grenades. Six picks it up and loads in a mag

"Chief, Pelicans are at the river. We've got company, so hustle up!"Beyond the steep slope is a river substation next to a raging river. A pair of Pelican dropships hovers above the river as gunners in their troop bays fire upon a cluster of Covenant troops that have tunneled themselves in the substation. The Pelicans are the extraction force to evacuate the Master Chief and his team.

"Kid, where are you!" Six shouts over the comms

"almost there Rex peered over the comms "These damn brutes are annoying"

Six was just glad to hear the young Spartans voice "alright"

"Hold on. Got a contact." a female pilot shouts "Banshee, high and low" she shouts as she attempts to move away he Banshees launch a high-speed strafing run against the Pelicans, and explosions cascade over them as the Pelicans rock. Echo 51's wingman collides with Echo 51.

"Watch yourself!"

"I'm hit! ARRGH!"

"Lost a thruster. Hang on!"

"Get a hold of her!"

"Negative! We're going down!"

Both Pelicans streak away around the Riverbend. Echo 51, in a futile attempt to gain altitude, skims the top of a cliff and crashes out of sight. The Wingman attempts to do the same, but, having suffered more damage than Echo 51, immediately plunges into the river beyond the dam, most likely drowning all of the Pelican's occupants.

"Damn it" Rex shouts coming into view for the other Spartans to see "Six chiefs, I'm kinda surrounded by her could use some back up"

Chief and Arbiter made their way over too where Rex was noticing the small explosions caused them to chuckle "that's Rex for you"

They quickly cleared out the covenant and saw Rex hiding behind one of the large cranes he surprisingly still had the brute launcher he stole from high charity he slugged it on his back as he went to great the Spartans

"Next time, where using an escape pod," he told chief who chuckled "and I guess our covenant friend is somewhere around here"

"Hey Rex good to see you too" Michael muttered as he went up to the Spartan

"introduction and reunions can wait we need to move" chief cut in as he looked around "Johnson are you still alive"

"Chief, can you hear me?...(static) My bird's down. Half a klick -(static)- downriver from your position." Johnson replies

"Then we need to move" Six came up let's go

"yeah yeah" Rex muttered as he loaded his brute shot

"Jackals. On the ridge. Stay low. Looks like they got Carbines." Michael shouted as he looked down

After the Chief, six, Rex and arbiter pass through the short Jackal-laden "Sniper Alley," they see a bridge. Three Marines are crossing it, under heavy fire, retreating from the wreckage of Echo 51. They hear Johnson's voice over the COM unit as a Brute leads a charge against the fleeing Marines."Come on, you dumb apes! Do you want breakfast? You gotta catch it!"

Johnson and some of the Marines frag the Brute and his fellow soldiers on the bridge and run off into a cave.

The Chief and 'Vadam encounter many hostiles, including a Brute Chieftain on the side of a Phantom, Six looks up and fires off his gun killing the brute causing the ship to fly off The Chief and Rex secure the area, and discover Echo 51's crash site by the riverside. The Pelican had flipped over after hitting the cliff, scattering ammunition and weapon racks, including an SRS99D-S2, AM Sniper Rifle, and other munitions, around the crash site. The crashed dropship, lying on an outcropping along the valley wall, is surrounded by Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, and Frag Grenades, and the Pelican's radio is still operational.

A few marines come out of the wreckage nearly limping, but they salute and join in with the squad "Again, the Brutes show their weakness." arbiter states as the marines meet chief

"Sergeant went this way," one of them tell him "we need to hurry Kat and Emile were with him"

"Then let's move through the cave!" Six shouts as he traded his assault rifle for a sniper he holds it in his hands for a while "this should do nicely"

"Hey Sarah you alright," Rex asks taping his helmet

"yeah I'm fine" she answers quickly "just static from the crash is all"

The Spartans and marines make their way through the cave and come to a low cliff, viewing a Loyalist-held dam. 'Vadam spots the Chieftain beating Johnson soundly on the far left in front of a small building.

"See how they bait their trap?" arbiter states as he knees

The Chieftain roars at Johnson. Johnson punches the Chieftain in the stomach with no effect."I will help you spring it."

The Chieftain growls loudly and kicks Johnson back inside the "prison."

"I'll stay here and snipe with Michael" Six tells chief "you guys just clear that area"

"Affirmative Rex states as he runs down the hill "I'm going to be the diversion"

"Alright let's move" chief orders as arbiter and the marines follow him down to the bridge

Rex makes his way up to the side of the bridge and fires off his brute shot several times killing a few grunts as they scatter a Brute gets up to shoot at Rex but his shot down by Six as the sniper bullet fills the air and chief and his team start a firefight along the bridge

Rex continues to push forward as the brute chieftain charges him "kid lookout" Six shoot's over the comma "that Brute has a Gravity hammer"

Rex notices this and ducks under the brute stealing two of his grenades it was a long stick type detonator Rex looked over it for a few seconds before noticing the Brute charging he throws the grenade at the Brute hitting him the face causing him to drop his weapon Rex grips the grenade dragging the Brute over his head and throwing him over the bridge

the explosion is heard as the grunts began to scatter as Six and Michael come down helping pick off the remaining covenant

they make their way inside the room where Johnson, Kat, Emile, and Emile where standing around

"about Damn time!" Emile shouted

"Glad you guys made the fall, where never doing that again" kat stated as she walked up to prison gate "know get us out of her please"

Chief releases the plasma shield that was imprisoning Johnson and his fellow Marines."We're even, as long as we're only counting today. Kilo 023, what's your ETA?"

"Imminent, Sergeant. Find some cover. Gotta clear a path." HOcus says over the comm

Sergeant Johnson and the Marines grab Covenant weaponry from nearby crates.

"Roger that, Hocus. Friendly gunship, coming in hot!"

Two Phantoms arrive, carrying reinforcements. The Chief, 'Vadam, Johnson and any accompanying Marines hold the position in the building for shelter until Kilo 23 arrives.

"Hocus! Phantom!" Johnson shouts as the Spartan began to shoot at the ground troops

"I see 'em! Standby. Going loud. Everyone down!"The Pelican Drop Ship Kilo 23 rounds the river bend, directly in front of the two hovering phantoms. Hocus, Kilo 23's pilot, lets loose a missile barrage, etching the air with vapor contrails as the first Phantom explodes in a brilliant coruscation of light."Scratch one Phantom!"

If any ground forces remain, Kilo 23 will take them out. Kilo 23 fires two missile barrages at the Hocus lowers the Pelican to the dam for pickup. Johnson, Chief, Six, Rex, Emile, Kat, 'Vadam and the remaining Marines board Kilo 23.

Kilo 23 takes off. Johnson gives the Chief a pat on the shoulder appreciatively and goes into the cockpit. The back hatch closes and Kilo 23 flies over the first dam, en route to Crow's Nest. The view cuts to an area in the jungle. Sentries on watch in the jungle spot Kilo 23 on approach."IFF confirmed. Contact is Pelican Dropship Kilo 23. Over."

"Roger that. What's the word, Kilo 23?"

"Spartan Team alpha on board. Request priority clearance. Over."The two Marine Sentries bump their fists and smile."Deck's yours. Come on down."Kilo 23 proceeds to descend into a hole in the ground.

* * *

 **and that's a wrap**

 **I'm glad to be back I've personally missed writing this story I've thought about it for a while and know where it is so I hope you enjoyed the first chapter to the third installment of this series I hope it's all been what you hoped**

 **don't forget to leave a review cause ya know I'd love to hear your opinions**

 **until next time**


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